Dune – Changing POV vs. Head Hopping

People reading Dune may have noticed that its Point Of View (POV) changes from time to time within individual scenes. This of course is the style employed by Frank Herbert, its author.

Now I’m not trying to say a shifting POV is right or wrong, or that it’s never used anymore. However, I do feel that today’s writers seem to shun this technique. There appears to be some fear that changing POV within the same scene gets one labeled a: “head-hopper”; and is evidence that a writer is inexperienced. Is that a reason to place it in the “not-advised” bucket?

To be fair, I can agree that one must employ greater skill when changing POV. It should be subtle, and invisible to the reader. Certainly, its overuse can lead to confusion. But when one reads Dune, does is truly have such ill effect?

I for one find the prose poetic, and soothing, and I would appreciate hearing the thoughts of other readers.

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Perhaps the only 'true' SF film ever made: Things to Come (1936) is a British science fiction film produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells and is a loose adaptation of his own 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come and his 1931 non-fiction work, The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind.